Final Fantasy XI and XIV

I've been a part of both of Square Enix's forays into the MMO market with the Final Fantasy franchise. This page is where I can dedicate a little space to my experience with them. The focus is mainly on FFXIV since I no longer play FFXI.

Gaming

Final Fantasy XI

I played FFXI starting sometime in my final years of high school and ending sometime during undergraduate college when studies (and courtship of my now wife) demanded more of my attention. I played as Myranda, a hume female from Bastok on the Leviathan server, with Dark Knight as my main job. I started in the social linkshell Aku Zoku Zan, which morphed into Virtue, and finally ended with the end-game linkshell Absolute Zero. I completed the Zilart and Chains of Promathia expansions, and while I bought Treasures of Aht Urhgan, my playtime was already on the decline and I never progressed very far in it, though I did level up Corsair a decent amount. I had quit the game entirely before Wings of the Goddess ever came out, let alone Abyssea and the level cap raise to 99.

Final Fantasy XIV 1.x

An MMO with a storied reputation for a horrible launch, I initially played at release on the Palamecia server but cancelled after they finally started charging monthly fees, since at the time it was basically unplayable.

Square Enix, in a bold and unprecedented move, decided to try and revive the failing game with a total overhaul, all the while updating the original version with better content and an in-game storyline to parallel the destruction of the original game with a rebirth into the new version (the "7th Umbral Era"). When I saw the drastic changes that had been implemented, I decided to give FFXIV 1.0 a second chance under their Welcome Back campaign and found myself thoroughly impressed with the results. I was back into the game (now on Excalibur, after a world merge during my absence had eliminated Palamecia). I probably would have returned sooner if SE had emailed me their invitation to check out the changes earlier than they did.

I revived my character Myranda for FFXIV, keeping her overall appearance similar as a Hyuran midlander with an added mole/beauty mark below the left eye and as required by the game gave her a surname, al'Cyœne (rendered Alcyoene in v1.x due to system limitations). Myranda hails from the desert city of Ul'dah and joined the Immortal Flames Grand Company. My preferred class of what is currently available is Bard, but I leveled all available combat classes to the cap of 50 before v1.x was shut down. And if Dark Knight ever gets introduced, you know what I'll be playing... Whelp, Dark Knight was announced as a tank. I'll probably level it and play it for solo content, but I likely won't use it in party situations as a result.

Final Fantasy X|V: A Realm Reborn

Myranda moved from Excalibur server to Hyperion for the relaunch, becoming a highlander in the process. With apostrophes now allowed, her surname is now partially more correct as Al'cyoene. I have a lot of fun playing with all the different classes and don't really choose a "main" class, though most of the time for group content I do get shoehorned into healing. I pride myself on my crafting prowess, and try to keep all crafting and gathering classes up to speed so that I can make anything I want for myself at minimal cost. Give me a shout out if you ever see me in game!